Foreign Aid: Pound of Propaganda

For each of its well-publicized and
highly visible foreign aid ventures (e.g., a steel mill in India, a
road in Afghanistan, the Aswan dam in Egypt), the Soviet Union
faithfully exacts a precious pound of propaganda. This week the
Organization for European Economic Cooperation showed Soviet generosity
to be largely a myth.

During the years 1956-59, reports the OEEC, 16 Western nations, together
with Japan, supplied the world's underdeveloped countries with an
average $6.9 billion yearly in capital assistancea category that
includes direct aid, reparations payments, long-term loans, guaranteed
export credits and contributions to international economic assistance
funds. It excludes...